Doweling machine



Jan. 24, 1933. H. w; Russ DOWELING MACHINE Filed Oct. 10, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 24, 1933. w, uss 1,895,106

DOWELING MACHINE Filed Oct. 10, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 1 J8 I 66 50 Z0 M VEA/ TEQ- Jan. 24, 1933. w, uss 1,895,106

DOWELING MACHINE Filed 001;. 10, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jan. 24, 1933. w uss 1,895,106

DOWELING MACHINE Filed Oct. 10, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 1 l l I I l I 1 Mi /ZEN TUE. 2a;

Patented Jan. 24, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARLEY W. RUSS, OF HAV'EBHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR .TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF IPATEBSON,

JERSEY NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW DOWELING iracnnm Application filed October 10, 1932. Serial No. 637,071.

This invention relates to doweling heels and is disclosed as embodied in machines for drilling dowel holes in wood heels and for inserting dowels in such drilled holes. This application is a continuation in part of my application Serial No. 598,677 filed March 14, 1932.

Doweled wood heels are generally of the Louis type, and'owing to the thin middle portion or neck of such heels it is necessary to locate the dowel rod or pin with considerable accuracy and uniformity. It is ordinarily centered in the top-lift end of the heel, and should be at a suflicient distance from the surface at the neck to'prevent cracking or breaking out of the wood.

Machines for doweling heel blanks, that is, for drilling dowel holes or inserting the dowels in already drilled holes, are enerally provided with a reciprocating. todl, which may be a drill or a dowel driver, a breast gage for the heel blank, and an angularly adjustable table for supporting the attaching face of the heel blank. The angular adjustment enables the machine to' accommodate heel blanks having varying angles between their attaching faces and their vertical axes. It is an object of the present invention to provide machines of this type for doweling heels which will locate the holes as above indicated,

' and which will insert dowels in such drilled holes, and which will have other advantages which will be explained. In accordance wlth an important feature of the invention the il-.

lustrated machine is provided with a gage.

fixedly located at a certain distance from the line of reciprocation of the tool. Thus when the heel blank is arranged with itsvertical tool and so that the tool is centered above the top-lift endof the blank the line of action of the tool will pass at the said certain distance within the breast face in all heels, without requiring adjustment of the gage. This distance is far enough withinthe surface of the breast to'avoid danger of cracking the wood in the smallest heel blank, and, is of course adequate for larger ones. I

The uniform location of the hole or dowel may be further insured, in accordance with a feature of the invention, by a certain location of the pivotal axis of-the work supporting table. This axisis located near the axis of reciprocation. of the tool and preferably near that portion of the axis that intersects the heel blank. Thus the blank is so near the pivotal axis that angular adjustment ofthe work table produces little heightwise movement of the heel relatively to the breast gage whichv will therefore contact with blanks of all styles'at the same breast locality. This is of importance'since the breast of a Louis heel is so deeply curved that much variation in the position of the gage on it might cause prejudicial variations in the depth of the dowel hole below the breast surface. In the illustrated machines, the pivotal axis of the table is placed directly in front of the drill and driver so thatthe additional advantage of preserving a uniform distance'between the attaching face and the bottom of the drilled hole or end of the dowel is secured, without longitudinal adjustment of the tool.

Another important featureof the invention comprises an improved combination of holding dog-and work supporting table or plate. As has already been stated, in the use of the illustrated machine the heel blank is 'supported on its attaching face, to permit free access of the drill or driver to its top-lift end. The illustrated table is positioned at a substantially acute angle to the axis of the drill. It is therefore necessary to provide means to prevent slipping of the blank under the these dogs, which project through a hole in the table into the heel blank when the table is slightly depressed against its resilient support by pressure on the blank from above.

Thus the work table is quite smooth, 110111131? ly, and blanks can be slid into gaged position,

with great ease. This construction contributes to great rapidity in operation.

In connection with this normally smooth table, a further advantage is secured by an the holding mechanism.

The two machines illustrated, one for drilling heels, and the other for driving dowels in heels so drilled, are similar in their work supporting and gaging portions, but differ in their mechanism for operating on the heel. The former is provided with a reciprocable drill, and the latter with a reciprocable dowel driver and a guide for a dowel to be driven. Both of these illustrated machines embody the features of the invention above discussed. These and other features of the invention comprising certain combinations and arrangements of parts will be apparent from th? following description ota preferred embodiment of the inventior'i'shown in the drawings, in which v Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the drilling machine Fig. 2 is a front elevation partially in section;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation partially in section;

Fig. 4 is a detail of a pl'esser member;

' Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the doweling machine;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation partially in section Fig. 7 is a section on the line VII-VII of Fig. 6'

Fig.8 shows a doweled heel; and

Figs. 9 and 10 show different forms of dowel.

The machine illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 is for drilling dowel holes in heel blanks, and has a standard IO-carrying a slide 12, vertically adjustable by a screw 14, and supporting the work table, as will be seen. The slide 12 has a horizontal arm 16 on which is fastened a rib 18 having two upstanding arms 20, 22. The rib 18, and the principal parts carried by it, slant downwardly toward the standard 10, as shown in Fig. 3, in order to position the hole on a lateral slant, as will be seen. The arms 20, 22 carry trunn:on screws 24, 26 on which is pivotally mounted a plate 28 which forms the supporting body of the work table and which carries at its rear corner a clamp screw 30 cooperating with a slotted link 32 pivotally mounted on the arm 16 or rib 18, as is found convenient, to hold the plate 28 in the angularly adjusted pos tion required by the particular heel being treated. It should be noted that this adjustment can be accomplished with one hand, since the screw 30 is threaded into the plate and can be used to swing it around the trunnions to the posit on desired.

The plate 28 has a hole in it in which is located a work supporting plate or table 34, suspended from the plate 28 on four springs 36, so that it is easily depressed. Its upward movement is limited by flanges 38 en gaging under the plate 28, and the springs are mounted so as to pull it up into such limiting position. The work su porting plate 34 has a hole 40 in it, througli which, when the late is depressed, spurs 42, 44 will project: t e spurs are fixedly carried by the plate 28, and do not project above the upper surface of the plate 34 when it is in its uppermost position. Thus the dogs will not engage a heel blank which is merely placed on the table, but downward pressure on the blank will depress the table and cause them to do so.

The arms 20 also carry a gage bar 46 for gaging the breast face of the heel blank to "be drilled or doweled, and a side gage 48 is 'trunnions 24, 26. The sleeve 60 of the drill head carries an integral collar 62 which loosely engages rods 64 forming a part of a pressure frame 66, 68, 7 O, 72, pivoted on the machine head at 74, for the purpose of pressing the top-lift end of the blank toward the work table, and holding it firmly. This frame is impelled clockwise (Fig. 1) by a spring 76, and its movement in this direction is limited by an adjustable stop 78. The element 66 of the frame carries spurs 80 (Fig. 4) to engage the top-lift end of the heel blank. The collar 62 carries a rod 82, which runs in a loosely fitting lug 84 on the machine frame. When the drill is lowered by the handle 56 the collar 62 engages a nut 86 on the rod 82 and stops the downward movement of'the drill. When the drill is raised the collar 62 lifts on the rods 64 and raises the front end of the frame 66-7 2.

In operating the machine the operator first adjusts the gage 48 by sliding a. heel blank 88 across the table into contact with the gages 46, 48. The breast surface of the blank is brought flat against the bar 46 and the gage 48 is adjusted to center the drill laterally in the top-lift face of the blank. He holds the blank in position with his left hand, and with his right adjusts the slant of the table 28 by means of the screw 30 in order to place the drill longitudinally over the top-lift end of the blank in the desired position. The spring 50 is distorted when the heel blank is in this position, which is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and at this time the glrilllkand the bar 66 are raised above the arm 66. As soon as the dogs 80 strike the heel blank, the pressure transmitted by the spring 76 causes the blank to push down the table or plate 34 allowing the lower dogs-'42,

44 to bite into the attaching'face of the heel blank. As soon as the blank is thus engaged, theoperator reaches for anotherblank with his left hand, continuing to lowerthe drill head with his right until it is'stopped by the elements 84, 86. During the drilling of the heelblank in this way, the collar 62 slips down freely over the rods 64.

By this time the operator has lifted a new heel blank from his supply box and placed it on the resiliently supported plate 34. As he raises the drill the collar 62 picks up the rods 64' and lifts the dogs 80 from the drilled blank. The table 34 rises and disengages the lower dogs42, 44 and the spring 50 ejects the drilled blank. The operator then slides the new heel blank into place against the gages and repeats'the operation. .He keeps his right hand on the handle 56 all the time and feeds theblanks with his left. The resiliently supported work table 34 afi'ords him aysmooth surface over which to slide the blanks into position, andhe is not delayed by having to overcome any stumbling of the blanks over a roughened surface as they move to gaged position. He thus loses no time wtih the drill in its high position, as

the heel blank'is automatically freed from the lower dogs and ejected.

As described above and as shown in Fig.

' s, the heel blank is held tilted to the side so that the drill hole, and the dowel pin later to be inserted in it, will avoid the heel attaching screw.,

An important advantage of the invention resides in the relative locations of the tool axis, the gage bar 46 and the pivotal axis 24, 26. Obviously, the location of the axis 24, 26 near, or, as shown, in intersection with the axis of thedrill minimizes the vertical movement of the heel blank relatively to the gage bar 46 when the work table'is angularly adjusted.- Thus the gage bar will contact with all styles of blanks at similarly located points, preferably at or near the neck, thus insuring uniform spacing of the drilled holes from the breast surfaces of such blanks.' In another way'of-looking at the matter, if I consider the heel blank impaled on the dril, with the drill at the desired depth inside the breast and in a laterally extending lane generally parallel tothe breast, a change in the angle between the attaching face and the verthe breast and of the attaching face, because the height of the heel is measured from a point in the neighborhood of this intersection. The illustrated location of the pivotal axis'24, 26, is near this point. The direction shown, directly in line with the drill, has the characters are used for all parts common to both machines.

\ In the doweling machine of Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the dowel 100 or 100a (Figs. 9 and 10, one of which shows a square dowel, and the other a rounded, grooved dowel) is driven by a driver 102 carried by a head 104 movable up and down by an eccentric 106 operated by a treadle and a one revolution clutch (not shown) The centerline of the driver intersects the center line of the trunnions 24, 26. The head 104 reciprocates in a bearing 108, and the driver 102 reciprocates parallel to and past a grooved guide block 110 mounted in'a block 112 on the frame. The block 112 also carries a guide 114 for the driver. The driver is adjustable'by a screw 116 which clamps it in the head 104.

In operating the machine the operator first adjusts the gage 48 by sliding a drilled heel blank 88 across the table into contact with the gages 46, 48. The breast surface of the blank is brought flat against the bar 46 and the gage 48 is adjusted to center the driver laterally over the drilled hole in theblank. He holds the blank in position with his left hand, and with his right adjusts the slant of the table 28 by means of the screw 30 ill order to place the driver longitudinally over the top-lift end of the blank in the desired position. The spring 50 is distorted when the heel blank is in this position.

The operator then'places a dowel 100 ill the block 110 (see Fig. 7) with its end ill the drilled hole 116a in the heel blank, and trips the clutch. As soon as the driver 102 strikes the dowel, the pressure transmitted causes the blank to push down the table or plate 34 allowing the lower dogs 42, 44 to bite into the attaching face of the heel blank. As soon as the blank is thus engaged, the operator reaches for another blank with his left hand, while the dowel is driven by the driver.

By this time the operator has lifted a new heel blank from his supply box and placed it on the resiliently supported plate 34. As the driver rises to release-the blank, the table 34 rises and disengages the lower dogs 42, 44 and the spring 50 ejects the doweled blank. The operator then slides the new heel blank into place against the gages and repeats the operation. The resiliently supported work table 34 affords him a smooth surface over which to slide the blanks into position, and he is not delayed b having to overcome any stumbling of the blanks over a roughened surface as they move to gaged position. He thus loses no time with the driver in its high position, as the heel blank is automatically freed from the lower dogs and ejected.

As described above and as shownin Fig. 8. the heel blank is held tilted to the side so that the dowel pin will avoid the heel attaching screw, and the head of the machine is on a slant so that the dowel 100 will lie in the grooved guide block 110.

The illustrated dowel driving machine is thus adapted to handle expeditiously heels that have been drilled in the machine shown in Figs. 1 to 4, and has all the advantages, mutatis mutandis, pointed out in connection with that machine.-

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

I. In a machine for doweling heels, a reoiprocable tool, a table arranged to support the attaching face of a heel blank, and so positioned that a normal to the table appears oblique to the line of reciprocation of the tool when viewed both from the side and from the back of a heel blank on the table, said table being adjustable about an axis lyin in front of the driver and extending latera ly of the heel blank, and so positioned as substantially to intersect the line of reciprocation of the tool, and a gage arranged to contact with the breast of the heel blank at a fixed distance from the line of reciprocation of the tool.

2. In a machine for doweling wood heels, a reciprocable tool, a table arranged to support the attaching face of a heel blank in front of the tool, and a dog for engaging the attaching face of the blank to prevent its slipping on the table, said dog and table being relatively movable under stress applied to the top-lift end of the blank, to bring the dog into engagement with the blank.

3. In a machine for doweling wood heels, a reciprocable drill, a table arranged to support the attaching face of a heel blank in the line of reciprocation of the drill, and a dog loated in that part of the table covered by the heel blank, but not normally projecting beyond the o erative surface of the table, for

engaging t e attaching face of the blank to prevent its slipping on the table, said dog and table being relatively movable under stress applied to the top-lift end of the blank, to bring the dog into engagement with the blank.

4. In a machine for doweling wood heels, a reciprocable drill, a table arranged to support the attaching face of a heel blank at an oblique angle to the line of reciprocation of the drill, and a dog for engaging the attaching face of the blank to prevent its slipping on the table, said dog and table being relatively movable under stress applied to the top-lift end of the blank, to bring the dog into heel blank in the line of reciprocation of the a tool, a dog located in the aperture for engaging the attaching face of the blank to prevent its slipping on-the table, and means for resiliently supporting the table whereby pressure on the top-lift end of the heel blank will depress the table against its resilient support and brin the heel blank into engagement with the dog. v

6. In a machine for dowelin wood heel blanks, a reciprocable tool, a reslliently su ported smooth table arranged to support t e attaching face of a heel blank in the line of action of the tool, said table having a hole at the place occupied by a blank on said table, a fixedly supported dog adjacent to the hole, and arranged to contact with the heel blank when the table is depressed, and a presser member controlled by the tool, arranged to contact with the top-lift end of the heel blank, to depress the table.

7 A machine for doweling heels having a vertically reciprocable tool, a work table for supporting the attaching face of a Louis heel blank, arranged non-horizontally to hold the vertical axis of the heel blank sub stantially vertical under the tool, a breast gage for the heel blank, a resilientmember arranged to be stressed by the placing of the blank against the breast gage, and means controlled by the movement of the tool in one direction to hold the heel against the gage while keeping the resilient member stressed, and to release it upon movement of the tool in the opposite direction, whereby the resilient member is enabled to eject the treated heel blank.

8. In a machine for doweling wood heels, a reciprocable tool, a work table arranged, on a pivoted ,axis, for supporting the attaching face of a Louis heel, a clamp screw threaded into said table, a slotted link extending from the machine frame with its slot embracing said clamp screw, whereby angular adjustment of the table with one hand may be effected, and a breast gage for a heel blank on said table.

9. In a machine for doweling heels, a reciprocable dowel driver. a table arran ed to support the attaching face of a heel lank, and so positioned that a normal to the table appears oblique to the line of reciprocation of the driver when viewed both from the side, and from the back of a heel blank onthe table. said table being adjustable about an axis lying in front of the driver and extending laterally of the heel blank, and so positioned .as substantially to intersect the line of reciprocation of the driver, and a gage arranged to contact with the breast of the heel blank at a fixed distance from the line of reciprocation of the driver.

10. 'In a machine for doweling wood heels, a reciprocable dowel driver, a table arranged to support the attaching face of a heel blank in front of the driver, and a dog for engaging the attaching face of the blank to prevent its slipping on the table, said dog and table being relatively movable under stress applied to the top-lift end of the blank, to bring the dog into engagement with the blank.

11. In a machine for doweling Wood heels, a reciprocable dowel driver, a guide for a dowel arranged adjacent and parallel to the line of action of the driver, a table arranged to support the attaching face of a heel blank ahead of the driver, and a dog located in that part of the table covered by the heel blank, but not normally projecting beyond the operative surface of the table, for engaging the attaching face of the blank to prevent its slipping on the table, said dog and table being relatively movable under stress applied to the top-lift end of the blank, to bring the dog into engagement with the blank.

In testimonyvvhereof I have signed my name to this specification.

HARLEY W. RUSS. 

